Murder of Jennifer Ann Crecente

Jennifer Ann Crecente was born September 9, 1987, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and later moved with her family to Austin, Texas, where she attended local schools, including Bowie High School. She worked as a camp counselor at SciTrek in Atlanta and volunteered at a hospital in Austin. Among her classmates at Bowie High School was Justin Crabbe, who dropped out in the tenth grade and later became her boyfriend and then ex-boyfriend.

On February 15, 2006, a few months before her planned graduation, Crecente was shot and killed in southwest Austin by Crabbe. Her body was found the following night, February 16, 2006, in a wooded area. Crabbe was arrested on February 18, 2006, on a charge of first-degree murder. According to an arrest affidavit, Crabbe told police that he and another man, identified as Richard, were handling a gun while Crecente stood 20 to 30 feet away when it fired, striking her. Crabbe fled without checking on her condition. The affidavit also noted that Crabbe and Crecente had argued earlier that week while staying at a South Austin hotel. A videotape showed Crabbe with another man purchasing ammunition at a sporting goods store; as a parolee from a prior felony conviction, Crabbe was legally barred from buying ammunition himself.

Crabbe pleaded not guilty on September 22, 2006, and bail was denied; he faced a maximum sentence of life in prison. In March 2007, his court-appointed lawyers sought to have his videotaped confession suppressed, a motion denied on March 22, 2007. A trial date of July 23, 2007, was later set, then a scheduled court appearance for July 27, 2007, was announced and subsequently cancelled without explanation. On July 31, 2007, it was announced Crabbe had agreed to a guilty plea, and on August 1, 2007, he pleaded guilty to murder as part of a plea agreement and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. As part of the plea, Crabbe testified before a grand jury, resulting in a sealed indictment against a man named Ricardo Roman, who was indicted on July 17, 2007, and arrested July 31, 2007, in South Texas. On February 15, 2008, the Travis County District Attorney's office dismissed the indictment against Roman after Crabbe reneged on his agreement to testify against him.

Crecente's death led to lasting institutional responses. The Texas Psychological Foundation established the Jennifer Ann Crecente Memorial Grant, awarding $5,000 annually to a graduate student studying violence against women. Her parents separately founded organizations in her memory: her father, Drew Crecente, created Jennifer Ann's Group in February 2006 to combat teen dating violence through education, including the Gaming Against Violence program; her mother, Elizabeth Crecente, founded Jennifer's Hope in August 2006. Texas lawmakers passed legislation in her memory: a May 2007 law requiring school districts to adopt teen dating violence policies (named in part for Crecente and Ortralla Mosley), and "Jennifer's Law," signed June 15, 2007, allowing posthumous diplomas for students who die during their senior year.

In October 2024, Crecente's father discovered that an AI chatbot using her name and photograph had been created without family permission on the Character.AI platform. After public attention, Character.AI confirmed the chatbot was removed.